Friday, 19 September 2014

Whitbread Stout quality 1922

Finally we're there. At the final set of analyses. The very first part of this series, "Was Watney's Mild crap in the 1920's?" was on the 26th January 2014. So I've been at this for just about nine months. Scary to think it's taken as long to form as a baby.

But don't get too carried away yet. I've still a Stout roundup and then an overall league table to compile. There are still a few steps left in our journey.

How appropriate that Whitbread, the people we have to thank for this lovely information, comes last. Just an alphabetical coincidence, but still appropriate. I thought: "What extra crap, sorry background detail, can I stick in?" Why not something about the beers? The grists are an obvious one. But I know so much more about Whitbread beers. A great excuse for lots more tables.

For example, they very handily have tables at the back of their brewing books showing how much of each type of beer they brewed each week of the year, with monthly and annual totals. Which lets me put together tables like this:

It tells us a few things. Like their Porter started its terminal decline in 1926. That Country Stout (CS) had a brief life, at first almost sucking the life out of London Stout (LS) then withering itself away. LS bounces back to over 90,000 barrels a year in 1930. Don't know what happened in 1929, but the following year total Porter and Stout production was over 150,000 barrels again. Overall, Whitbread's Stout sales were in decline in the 1920's. In the 1930's they stabilised at around 120,000 barrels.

Now details of the beers. On the face of it, there were 7 beers: P (Porter) CS (Country Stout), COS (Country Oatmeal Stout), LS (London Stout), LOS (London Oatmeal Stout), S (Stout) and ES (Extra Stout). In reality there just three. As this table shows:

Whitbread Porter and Stout in 1922

Date

Beer

Style

OG

FG

ABV

App. Atten-uation

lbs hops/ qtr

hops lb/brl

boil time (hours)

boil time (hours)

Pitch temp

12th Jun

P

Porter

1028.0

1007.0

2.78

74.98%

7.47

0.93

1.5

1.75

64º

12th Jun

CS

Stout

1045.7

1013.0

4.32

71.54%

7.47

1.52

1.5

1.75

61.5º

12th Jun

COS

Stout

1045.7

1013.0

4.32

71.54%

7.47

1.52

1.5

1.75

61.5º

6th Jun

LS

Stout

1054.6

1015.0

5.23

72.51%

7.44

1.77

1.75

2

61.5º

6th Jun

LOS

Stout

1054.6

1015.0

5.23

72.51%

7.44

1.77

1.75

2

61.5º

6th Jun

S

Stout

1054.6

1015.0

5.23

72.51%

7.44

1.77

1.75

2

61.5º

6th Jun

ES

Stout

1054.6

1015.0

5.23

72.51%

7.44

1.77

1.75

2

61.5º

Source:

Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan
Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/115.

Now the grists:

Whitbread Porter and Stout grists in 1922

Date

Beer

Style

OG

pale malt

brown malt

black malt

no. 3 sugar

oats

hops

12th Jun

P

Porter

1028.0

63.96%

14.15%

13.02%

8.30%

0.57%

Oregon hops

12th Jun

CS

Stout

1045.7

63.96%

14.15%

13.02%

8.30%

0.57%

Oregon hops

12th Jun

COS

Stout

1045.7

63.96%

14.15%

13.02%

8.30%

0.57%

Oregon hops

6th Jun

LS

Stout

1054.6

64.69%

14.93%

12.09%

7.58%

0.71%

Oregon hops

6th Jun

LOS

Stout

1054.6

64.69%

14.93%

12.09%

7.58%

0.71%

Oregon hops

6th Jun

S

Stout

1054.6

64.69%

14.93%

12.09%

7.58%

0.71%

Oregon hops

6th Jun

ES

Stout

1054.6

64.69%

14.93%

12.09%

7.58%

0.71%

Oregon hops

Source:

Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan
Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/115.

The recipes are elegantly simple: pale, brown and black
malts, No. 3 invert sugar and a handful of oats for legal reasons. I
should say recipe rather than recipes, because, though P, CS and COS
were parti-gyled together, as were LS, LOS, S and ES, the same basic
recipe was used for both sets. If I'm honest, Whitbread's records are
terribly dull in this period.

One odd feature: 100% Oregon hops. It's really unusual to see all American hops in a beer. It implies to me that these are all early additions. They would normally use US hops for later additions. British brewers weren't keen on the flavour of American hops.

The ingredients are the same as they had been 50 years earlier. Look:

Whitbread Stout grists in 1870

Date

Beer

Style

OG

pale malt

brown malt

black malt

Sugar

8th Aug

SS

Stout

1080.9

73.11%

13.71%

4.57%

8.61%

8th Aug

SSS

Stout

1098.3

73.11%

13.71%

4.57%

8.61%

4th Nov

xp S

Stout

1070.4

68.59%

18.29%

4.57%

8.55%

19th Jan

K

Porter

1055.6

70.00%

25.00%

5.00%

Sources:

Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan
Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/063 and LMA/4453/D/09/064.

A little more pale malt and less black malt, but not really that much different.

That was fun. Now finally to today's beer, Whitbread draught Stout. Or London Stout, as it clearly was. It terms of spec, it's a touch stronger than average. Oh, and it's the more expensive 9d type of Stout. But what about its performance?

Whitbread Stout quality 1922

Year

Beer

FG

OG

ABV

App.
Atten-uation

Flavour

score

Price

1922

Stout

1011.9

1055

5.61

78.36%

good

2

9

1922

Stout

1018.2

1055.7

4.86

67.32%

good

2

9

1922

Stout

1014.2

1055.2

5.33

74.28%

v . fair

2

9

Average

1014.8

1055.3

5.27

73.32%

2.00

Source:

Whitbread Gravity book held at the London
Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

We're ending on a high note. Only three samples, but all get an impressive 2 score. I could work out the average without the benefit of a computer.

Whitbread pubs will (or should that be were?) be full of time-travelling Stout lovers.